Friday, February 22, 2008

St. Patrick's Church, Washington DC

St. Patrick's church and rectory on the southeast corner of 10th and G, NE[I believe it is the first Catholic church in the District of Columbia.]

Looking at the southeast corner of 10th and G, NE from the MLK Library[The rectory (on the corner) and Catholic Charities Building (to the left)]

Interior

The sanctuary[For some reason the crucifix is covered in red and it is only the second week of Lent.]

The side altar of Our Lady[On each side of the church there are statues of the saints and votive candles.]

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel[Unfortunately, the tabernacle is relegated to a side chapel with a few chairs. One has to ascend to the sanctuary level to get to these chairs. Meanwhile, those who would pray from the pews will find they will have to angle their bodies to the right to look at the tabernacle. There are no pews in the aisle directly in front of the tabernacle.]

The Wedding at Cana[One of the many beautiful stained glass windows depicting scenes from our Lord's life]

A view of the choir loft and holy water fonts[Thank goodness, there was holy water and not sand in them!!!]

The succession of pastors of the parish on the sides of the main entrance,(from 1789 to present)

4 comments:

The old St. Patrick's had a great spiraling elevated ambo (pulpit). It is gone now. It also had a wonderful high altar with remarkable side altars. It was all redone in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The saints up front were placed on the sides. The altars were hacked to pieces. The traditional crucifix was removed. Altar rails disappeared. A new tabernacle was placed on the side that replaced the one on the high altar. (There was an altar in front of an altar, for the new Mass.) The stained-glass windows in the front rotunda were gradually added. Millions went into the renovations. I miss the old church. When Fr. Maurice Fox was pastor I helped to clean the church for his installation.

Is the ambo gone? Or is the present one a remnant of the old one? One the front and one side are depictions from the life of St. Patrick.The church still retains some beauty, but I can only imagine how beautiful it must have been.

Yes. I went to the Tridentine Mass at the beautiful Mary, Mother of God on 5th Street and then on the way to the Smithsonian stopped by St Patrick's where my grandmother went to school and church. I was shocked at the wreckovation! The beautiful altar that tied into the angel water fonts is replaced by an ugly sort of sound-proofing and a pseudo-Celtic cross. That was a crime and someone should be punished for ruining that art. That type of old craftmanship cam never be replaced.